Prince Harry has claimed being good at video games and excelling on the sports field helped him to the top of his class as an Apache attack helicopter co-pilot gunner.

The prince, Captain Wales in the army, admits he has always found exams a ‘nightmare’, in a series of interviews conducted before his second tour of duty in Afghanistan ended.

In the interviews, which can only be reported on now after a media blackout was lifted, he claims flying came naturally for him from the beginning.

‘I don’t know, I’m one of those people, that during my flying course especially, I would be fine at flying,’ he said.

‘I probably should have done a lot more reading, but I was fine at flying.

‘And then every now and then a written test would come up, and I’d be absolutely useless and I’ve been like that from stage one of my youth.’

Prince Harry claims to be a Fifa pro (Picture: PA)

The 28-year-old prince was only permitted into Eton College in 1998 after repeating his final year at Ludgrove prep-school, while his GCSE results have never been published.

It was claimed his art teacher helped him cheat in his A-level coursework before being awarded a B grade, while he earned a D in geography.

‘Exams were always a nightmare, but anything like kicking a ball around or playing PlayStation – or flying – I do generally find a little bit easier than walking, sometimes,’ Harry said after rising through the ranks as a cadet at Eton and gaining a place at Sandhurst officer training college, which is rare for a non-graduate.

After 18 months of helicopter training in the UK and US, Harry received a prize as the best co-pilot gunner out of his 20 classmates.

‘It’s a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think that I’m probably quite useful,’ he said.

‘You can ask the guys, I thrash them at Fifa the whole time.’

Composite of file photos dated 29/7/1993 (left) of Prince Harry wearing a helmet during a visit to the barracks of the Light Dragoons in Hanover, Germany, and 02/11/2012 wearing his monocle gun sight as he sits in the front seat of his cockpit whilst serving as an Apache Helicopter Pilot/Gunner

Composite of file photos dated 02/01/08 (left) of Prince Harry in Helmand province during his first tour of Afghanistan and 03/11/2012 racing out from the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent to scramble his Apache with fellow pilots, during a 12 hour shift at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion southern

Composite of file photos dated 20/02/08 (left) of Prince Harry in Helmand province during his first tour of Afghanistan and 02/11/2012 giving a TV interview by his helicopter at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion southern Afghanistan,

Prince Harry in Helmand province during his first tour of Afghanistan and 31/10/2012 at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion southern Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache Helicopter Pilot/Gunner with 662 Sqd Army Air Corps, from September